Fishing
Summary So you want to be a fisherman? Fishing is a skill that, as you would expect, allows you to catch fish, most of which can be used with the cooking secondary skill. You can also catch fish that cannot be eaten but are instead useful for other Professions. You can even catch equipment, funny items, and valuable gems such as pearls. Fishing isn't for everyone. You'll discover that it requires a lot of patience and time to build your skill up to the maximum level. While you're fishing you won't be gaining experience, so this development can put your leveling behind, unlike some other Professions. Fishing is great for people who just want to relax and chat while playing. For those who enjoy a calm, relaxing way to play the game while finding useful items, fishing is the cat's meow. Fishing is a Secondary Profession, which means that it does not count toward your two Profession limit. See Also: * The Fishing category for articles related to Fishing. * The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza! How to use Fishing To start fishing, first find a fishing trainer to teach you the Apprentice Fishing skill. Then find a General Trade Goods or Fishing Supplies vendor and purchase a fishing pole. Lures are optional. Next, find a body of water. Low level areas tend to be easy to fish from, so it's recommended that you start fishing somewhere in a newbie area, since skillups are only possible if you actually manage to catch something. Equip the fishing pole in your main weapon hand. It will require both hands empty to wield. Open your Spellbook (default key: press "P") and you will find Fishing listed. Drag the fishing icon to a slot on your action bar and use this newly created button to cast your line. A fishing bobber will appear somewhere in the water in front of you, and you'll notice a timer. Move your cursor over the bobber and it will turn into the standard interaction cursor. Wait for the bobber to splash, then click it as soon as possible. Depending on your fishing skill, you will either catch something (which will appear in a standard loot box) or the fish/item will get away. You then have to cast again if you wish to continue fishing. As of Patch 2.1, the fishing timer runs for 20 seconds and will not expire without a bite. The higher your fishing skill, the higher the chance that you'll manage to hook a fish/item, rather than it getting away. Higher fishing skill does not improve the quality or type of items you receive, however. If you continually see "Your fish got away!" messages, it indicates your level of fishing is not optimal for the location. You should raise your fishing skill by using better lures, or switch to an easier zone. This message can mean you didn't click the bobber fast enough, and if your skill is only just good enough for an area then this might happen a lot. In some areas you may find that you can't even cast your line due to insufficient skill. The items you can fish up depend on the region you are in, and different sub-zones within any given region will usually yield the same fish. There are a few exception to this; for example bodies of fresh water (lakes or streams) will yield different fish from sea water. Schools of fish also have their own distinct contents. Benefits of fishing * Fishing is a great way for a Hunter to obtain food to maintain the happiness level of their fish-eating pets. Large quantities of fish can be obtained quickly and cheaply by a dedicated fisherman. * Fishing is also necessary to find a few components required for Alchemy. * Fishing, coupled with some decent cooking recipes, is a good, cheap way to get your cooking levels up as well. Certain food buffs only come from cooked fish. * You can fish Essence of Water in Azshara, Mote of Water in Nagrand, and chests of potentially lucrative trade goods. * Fishing can be very relaxing. Training fishing Note: You need to be lv5 to learn how to Fish and lv10 to train Journeyman 76-150 Fishing. Starting (Alliance) Fish in a low level area (6-10) until your skill is up to around 40 or 50. This should take you 10 or 20 minutes. Be sure to use a to buff your skill. Cook the Raw Brilliant Smallfish and Raw Slitherskin Mackerel you catch to start your cooking skill. You can find the recipes at most fishing suppliers. Then proceed to Darkshore and speak with Gubber Blump, on the beach just below the flight master, and Wizbang Cranktoggle who is upstairs at the inn. They will both give you fishing quests so you can gain some experience while fishing. Gubber Blump will also give you a decent fishing pole. Starting (Horde) Unfortunately there are no low level horde fishing quests. However, Horde fishing areas seem to allow catching non-fish items more often than Alliance areas (see what you can catch in the Undercity's canals of green goo sometime). Tauren are lucky - the barbell-shaped lake near Bloodhoof Village has a fishing trainer and supplier, and is packed with Raw Brilliant Smallfish and Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper, and the small pond at Thunder Bluff has plenty of Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper for starting fishermen. Orcs and trolls should try their luck on the east coast of Durotar, where they'll catch saltwater fish like Raw Slitherskin Mackerel and Raw Rainbow Fin Albacore. If you prefer freshwater fish, the pond in the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar has some Raw Brilliant Smallfish and Raw Longjaw Mud Snapper. In the low teens, your character may be able to survive fishing in the Barrens and catch Deviate Fish -- have a skilled chef prepare this fish for you before you eat it, or risk the consequences! You can also level fishing by traveling up and down the coast south of Ratchet and fishing for Firefin Snapper and Oily Blackmouth. A good rule of thumb is to look at the monsters in a zone, multiply their level by five, and assume that you'll need to have that much fishing skill to really have any success there. For the Barrens, then, with monsters in the low teens, you'll want your fishing to be at least 50 before heading out there; in Winterspring, where everything is 55+, you'll need 275 or better (and you'd better bring lures)! Expert Fishing To increase your fishing skill above 150, you'll need to buy a book: Note: you must be at least lv20 to read this book. You can buy this book from Old Man Heming in Booty Bay for 1g, or you might find it at the Auction House, marked up significantly. Artisan Fishing To increase your fishing skill above 225, you'll need to be level 35, have 225 fishing skill and visit Lumak, the Horde fishing trainer in Orgrimmar, or Grimnur Stonebrand, the Alliance fishing trainer in Ironforge. Both will direct you to Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh (standing on an island to the southwest of Theramore Isle) who will give you a quest to learn artisan fishing skill. You may also travel directly to Nat Pagle for the artisan fishing quest without first visiting Grimnur Stonebrand or Lumak. Master fishing Master Fishinghttp://www.thottbot.com/?sp=33095 (275+) is taught by Master Fishing - The Art of Angling http://www.thottbot.net/?i=55717, a book which can be purchased from Juno Dufrain at Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh, in Outland. Powerleveling fishing Skill-up table Fishing is different from other skills in that the likelihood of raising your fishing skill is not dependent on the difficulty of area in which you fish. You have a chance of raising your skill every time you successfully catch a fish; this chance is related only to your current base fishing skill; the higher your skill, the less often you will get skill increases. Fishing equipment See Fishing/Equipment for a detailed explanation on fishing equipment. Items Obtained by Fishing See: Fishing/Items for a detailed list on all Fish and Items that you can find while fishing. Schools of Fish Schools of fish or floating debris appear at set locations along coastlines and rivers. Similar to the schools of fish particular to the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza, players can catch specific fish and valuable items when their cast lands in the school. After several fish are caught, the school will disappear. Over time, schools will respawn in a similar way to mineral nodes or herbs. See : Fishing/Spawn for a detailed list on all fish spawn pools / schools / wreckage. Fishing Locations See : Fishing/Locations for a detailed list on all known fishing locations, and their required skill levels. Effects of Time on Fishing There are 4 separate intervals of fishing times. These intervals are 6am-12pm, 12pm-6pm, 6pm-12am, and 12am-6am. During this time the drop rates of certain fish varies, for example, Sunscale Salmon and Nightfin Snapper. According to experimentation, the cycle appears to be the following: * 6am-12pm - Nightfin and Sunscale * 12pm-6pm - Sunscale only * 6pm-12am - Nightfin and Sunscale * 12am-6am - Nightfin only Nightfin Snapper has the highest drop rate from 12am-6am, but is never found between 12pm-6pm. On the other hand, Sunscale Salmon is never found between 12am-6am, but drops quite well from 12pm-6pm. Fish that are apparently nocturnal or diurnal: It is known that Winter Squid and Summer Bass appear during their respective seasons. During Autumn and Spring, they can both apparently be caught, although the frequency of each might scale throughout the season. Miscellaneous Tips * You can shift-rightclick the fishing bobber just like a corpse, and loot everything automatically. * You can drag the skill from your spellbook onto your hotbar. * Having a macro to equip your weapons can be handy if you get attacked while fishing. * Turning on auto-loot will make fishing much more pleasant. * The Add-on "Fishing Buddy" is available that will add a beep when a fish stirkes to prevent you from missing fish when the bobber splash is small. External Links * Level Fishing and Cooking to 300 * Draznar's Fishing FAQ * El's Extreme Anglin' - Fishing Guide. * Thalen's WoW Guide - Swirls and patches of elemental water. * Fishing Basics - Official information. ---- Category:Fishing